Stone, Memory, and Distance
Aurangabad is not a city that announces itself. Its significance lies in what surrounds it — caves carved into basalt cliffs, fortresses rising from dry plains, monuments that echo empires long gone. The landscape is punctuated rather than continuous, requiring movement to assemble its meaning.
Travelling through this region feels less like visiting a destination and more like passing through layers of time arranged across space. Ajanta turns inward into painted silence. Ellora expands outward into sculptural ambition. Daulatabad rises defensively from the earth, while Bibi Ka Maqbara reflects an empire’s memory rather than its presence.
Between these sites lies a terrain of roads, fields, and small settlements that carry the present quietly forward. Craft traditions persist, not as relics but as labour woven into daily life. The region’s continuity depends as much on these living practices as on the monuments that attract attention.
Aurangabad, then, is understood not as a place to stay, but as a landscape to move through — a corridor where civilisations overlap without fully merging.
An early morning flight of 2 and half hours will land you at the city of gates, Aurangabad at 8 am. Aurangabad a pristine, historically important city is charming, clean and pollution free! The moment you land at airport, you get a feel of Buddhism and pristine air!
With hovering to danger levels AQI, couldn’t help typing this sentence 😊. Depending on your luggage you could take a cab or an auto till your hotel. I had pre-booked at Green Olive hotel some 12 kms from airport, Aurangabad. It was a comfortable and nice staff and prompt service. Would strongly recommend on this one! Observe the people, cultures as you travel friends! Aurangabad will have Marathi speaking mostly Muslim faith. Simple people, hardworking and respectful towards the feminine gender! Some love to talk a lot and emotional and helpful. The charm of a B- city in India . It really feels safe here, especially if you are a solo woman traveller.
After your hotel check In ; you may go for the package cab of Ellora caves and 4 other viewpoints. Roughly 1500 bucks.
Things that came as a unfortunate surprise!
I happen to be on 26th Dec …and that’s like peak rush times at Aurangabad apparently due to holidays! The uphill road to Ellora was already in jams at 12 pm! Ellora closes by 5.30pm. I was lucky enough to atleast enter by 12.30pm…with every passing moment the crowd inside the Ellora complex was swelling! There was school children’s groups too! You can get off the cab and fix Hotel Kailasha a few steps away from the ticket entry point as your return meeting point with your driver for ease. Network signal might be poor out here, due to forests and elevation.
In 1653, when Prince Aurangzeb was appointed the viceroy of Deccan for second time, he made Fateh Nagar his capital and called it Aurangabad (after his name!) .
It was surprising to know that Aurangzeb’s crematorium is near Aurangabad , at a place near “Daulatabad Fort “, some 23 kms from the City , on the way to Ellora caves . Aurangzeb’s wive’s crematorium too is here , named as “Bibi ka Maqbara”.
However as we know his father – Emperor Shah Jahan was buried near Taj Mahal, next to his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.
Aurangabad is easily approachable by road and public transport by Mumbai and Pune . The drive enthusiasts …do take up that road drive this year ! Though check the road conditions prior. I have not had experiences on that !
There are two early morning flights Ex Delhi. This take some 2 hours by which you get ample time the entire day to check into your hotel and relax and go covering the city . Green Olive hotel some 11 kms from airport is a great place to book ! Right on the main road , with some great staff and food on their menu! Their Nizami biryani and spicy Maratha thali’s were awesome. Equally good were the Non-Indian cuisines and beverages menu ! Five stars to this property – more so for solo women travelers and Western visitors to India .
It was nice to make friends with Asian and Japanese visitors here , who halt for covering the Ajanta and Ellora.
So after refreshing , ask the reception for the full day Cab tour of city ; this includes 4-6 important sights , like Daulatabad Fort ( this is a very long climb of some 300 steps on mountains, so I avoided …just saw the magnificence while driving up the hills to Ellora , Bibi ka Maqbara , Jyotirlinga temple (12th and last one) , which is 400 metres near Ellora caves itself, Aurangzeb’s Tomb ( can skip this too ). Mind Ellora will take your 3 hours easily !
I suggest visiting Ellora early morning by 9 am . However I had no option , since due to paucity of dates , I needed to cover on same day as landing and hence could enter the Ellora caves only by 12 Pm !
The best time to visit Aurangabad is November -January, the winter months . Avoid Christmas and new year holidays . It gets practically no fun to be in a stampede like situation !
Carved into a horseshoe bend of rock, Ajanta withdraws from the world rather than addressing it. Light enters slowly, revealing paintings that depend on patience more than spectacle. The experience is less about seeing and more about adjusting to a quieter register of attention.
So day 2 started at 6.30 am drive from Aurangabad. The drive will take you through the Sahyadri mountains at the backdrop and through cotton fields! Do take panorama pictures of yourself against the rising sun! Watch the cotton buds having flown from the fields into the roads
Tips : Carry a Sun hat, sunshades, comfortable shoes and water bottled with you . Ellora has many quick bites places around the site. You may love to savour the black juicy Sugarcane juice or fresh coconut water of Maharashtra belt before you enter the Ellora Complex! Me chose the former.
Spend some 2 hours at the cave number 12. Then exit from the same point and have a nice lunch at Kailasha hotel which is government run eat place. As I entered the Cave 16, was awed by the magnificent rock statues size and finesse! The more I walked around exploring the huge cave complex – the beauty and size and the grandeur bewitched me! Just kept wondering, that it takes gigantic, imported machinery today by Indians to make a simple bridge on mountains, or even drilling into a tunnel. How on earth did the Indians make this monolithic largest cave temple in World during 6 and 12 CE!? What did they have which we don’t have today? Were the ancient men more advanced and creative and competent than mankind today in the ‘AI era’!? All these mystical questions, while in a daze looking at the statues, I didn’t realise 2 hours had passed just in the Kailasha Cave!
Although it’s a large entrance to Kailasha caves of Ellora , it may cause stampede like situation on holidays. I too got caught in same. This part was scary. So do avoid late afternoon times for Ellora. I had no other option due to my landing time. If you have an option visit Ellora caves by 9.30 am, so that there less sun and crowd and you can comfortably visit the other caves as well.
Rising abruptly from the plains, Daulatabad is less a monument than a strategy carved into landscape. Its ascent reveals how architecture can control movement, visibility, and vulnerability simultaneously. The fort speaks in terms of caution rather than grandeur.
Why the name “Daulatabad” ? Daulat – in Hindi /urdu means wealth . So after every battle won by Aurangzeb , the wealth /gold/coins acquired by him from the losing kingdom was kept buried underneath this forth ! Today there are none . Seems they have been excavated and taken by locals many generations back !
This monument carries the memory of a distant centre. Familiar forms appear softened, as if translated rather than replicated. The structure suggests how imperial ideas travel outward, losing certainty but retaining outline.
After great pictures and moments, depart from Ellora towards main city to see ‘Bibi ka Maqbara’…. which is Aurenzeb’s begum’s tomb. Auranzeb;s tomb is nearby Daulatabad fort somewhere 55 kms away in a unceremonious dialpitated condition ! Tha name Aurangabad comes from the King – Auranzeb’s name .
Away from stone and scale, continuity persists through labour. In workshops and homes, threads are drawn across generations, creating objects that carry time quietly forward. Here, history is not preserved — it is practiced.
It is not test on Speed – It is endurance and Strength